This invention relates to equipment for riding on the back of a horse and, more particularly, to a corrective saddle pad for use under a saddle to provide a better fit of the saddle on a horse's back comprising, a layer of a first flexible sheeting material; a layer of a second flexible sheeting material disposed over the layer of first flexible sheeting material and fastened to the layer of first flexible sheeting material about peripheral edges to form a first compartment therebetween; and, force transfer means disposed within the first compartment for transferring localized forces from the saddle over a broad area of the back of the horse.
Saddles and associated equipment used for riding horses have not progressed much to date from that employed by people centuries ago for the same purpose. While the materials have improved somewhat, the basic design principles remain virtually unchanged. As depicted in FIGS. 1-5, the saddle 10 is placed on the back 12 of the horse 14 with the front or pommel 16 of the saddle 10 placed at about the withers 18 of the horse 14. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 (in greatly simplified form which is not necessarily to scale), there is a ridge 20 along the backbone of the horse 14 which must be cleared by any type of saddle. In some areas, as in the withers area of FIG. 2, the ridge 20 is relatively high and comprises muscle tissue while in other areas such as the middle of the back 12, as depicted in FIG. 3, the ridge is a thin layer over the backbone itself.
Most saddles fall into one of two broad categories--English (as depicted in FIG. 4) and Western (as depicted in FIG. 5). The English saddle 10 tends to be smaller and lighter in weight and thereby allows a rider to sit more forward on the back 12 of the horse 14 while the Western saddle 10' is heavier and larger and, therefore, causes the rider to sit further back on the horse 14. Virtually all saddles are built about a tree 22. So-called pack saddles are nothing but the tree as they are employed to load goods onto the back of the horse for packing purposes. In other words, the materials "riding" on the horse 14 are lashed on so as not to fall off and are not concerned with comfort. Riding saddles such as the English and Western saddles 10, 10' of FIGS. 4 and 5 have the trees 22 thereof covered, contoured, and padded to provide a more comfortable ride for the rider and, also, to position the rider so that his/her center of gravity is well placed with respect to the center of gravity of the horse.
Saddles and saddle trees remain more or less fixed in size and shape based on standards established centuries ago. A typical Western saddle tree 22 is depicted in simplified form in FIGS. 6 and 7. While a few trees are being made from synthetic materials such as plastic and fiberglass, the majority of trees are still being made of wood. The wood tree 22 is covered in rawhide as has been the practice for centuries; or, is covered in fiberglass if more modern materials are being used. As a result, a Western tree 22 as depicted in FIG. 6 and 7 will weigh in the neighborhood of forty pounds. By the time leather covering and padding is added, the resultant saddle will weigh upwards of fifty to sixty pounds. The tree 22 itself is of one piece construction and comprises a pommel 16 in the front (with or without a horn 24) and a cantel 26 in the back connected by sidepieces 28. Basically, there is the Arabian tree and the Quarter horse tree. The only difference being the distance between the sidepieces 28 and the vertical rise of the pommel 16 (so as to fit around the withers 18 without contacting). As depicted in FIGS. 6 and 7, the saddle tree 22 is supposed to fit over the ridge 20 at both the pommel 16 and cantel 26 and the sidepieces are supposed to fit along the back 12 of the horse 14 on either side of the ridge 20 spreading the weight of the rider over a large area.
Saddles are typically sized by the distance from the pommel 16 to the cantel 26 with a fifteen inch saddle being considered small and an eighteen inch saddle being considered large. Thus, the size variations are quite small. Unfortunately, such is not the case for the horses themselves. Just as with people, horses come in all sizes and shapes. There are large horses and small horses; fat horses and thin horses; tall horses and short horses. A hundred years ago, the horse was still a working animal. Horses were cheap and saddles were expensive. When you owned a $50 saddle and could buy a horse for $5, you shopped around and found a horse that fit your saddle. Working cowboys had a remuda of horses from which to chose each day. If a horse became sore from a misfit saddle, the cowboy used another horse and let the sore one recover.
The problem is that what is "supposed" to happen seldom does. Thus, as depicted in FIGS. 6 and 7, the tree 22 does not end up distributing the weight of the rider over broad areas of the back 12 on both sides of the ridge 20; rather, the horse is contacted at a narrow area 31 (as in FIG. 7) at front and back areas 32 (as in FIG. 6) of the sidepieces 28 of the tree 22. In an effort to protect the horse from the effects of this shape mis-matching, the underside of the saddle 10, 10' under the tree is typically padded to some degree and usually covered with a fleece material. These conform to the shape of the tree 22 and, therefore, provide minimal beneficial effect--mostly visual false reliance by the rider. Partially in a further effort to offset the saddle tree mis-match problem, most riders employ a so-called "saddle pad" 30 such as that depicted in FIGS. 8 and 9. Sometimes, a rider will use a saddle pad 30 (or in the alternative a saddle blanket) simply to prevent sweat from the horse 14 from contacting the underside of the saddle 10, 10'. At the opposite end of the spectrum, some cowboys when roping may put several thick saddle pads 30 under their saddle to prevent the front ends of the tree 22 from digging into their horse's back when a rope is connected between the saddle horn 24 and a steer under extreme tension. The vast majority of riders choose a saddle pad which has sufficient thickness to (apparently) protect their horse's back from any mis-matching of the saddle conformation. Materials and shape vary from pad to pad. A typical standard Western pad 30 is as shown in FIG. 9 comprising a rectangle of padding material 32 (such as a half-inch to inch thick felt material) with suede leather patches 33 sewn on at points of wear. As depicted in FIG. 10 (with only the tree 22 shown for clarity), the result is typically one of false security as the leather skirts and other covering portions of the saddle 10' conform to the pad 30 thus giving the visual belief to the rider that the saddle 10' is well padded over the back 12 of the horse 14 while, in fact, except for some minor prophylactic effect from the thickness of the material 32, the pressure from the saddle 10' is still concentrated on the horse's back as described above in what has been accurately described as a "four-legged stool" sitting on the horse's back.
There are other aspects of the saddle pad dilemma which are also worthy of at least brief consideration. A major driving force is the current price of saddles and horses. Horses can cost in the thousands and even tens of thousands of dollars. A cheap saddle is several hundreds of dollars and an average good saddle is a thousand dollars or more. In other words, neither is so cheap as to be discardable in the event of a minor size mis-match (obviously one does not try to use a pony saddle on a horse). Thus, given that the owner/rider is going to make the present combination of horse and saddle "work", the only thing left is the saddle pad. At the cost of saddle pads (typically $20-75), the saddle pad becomes the experimental or "throw-away" component. Thus, a rider may try pads of different thickness and materials, alone or in combination, in order to attempt to get a good "fit". The result may, in some cases, have more bad results than good. For example, remembering the difference between the Arabian and Quarterhorse tree as described above, it should be readily obvious that if the saddle/tree is too small for the horse to begin with, adding additional padding is only going to compound the problem and the saddle will end up sitting too high on the horse (in the manner of FIG. 10). Being of a somewhat compressible material, it can also lead to breakage of the tree--particularly with English saddles and in much the same manner as a problem to be described with respect to English saddles shortly. If a saddle fits on the horse in the manner of the tree 22 of FIG. 10, it can be appreciated that any downward force on the tree 22 (as from the weight of the rider) will result in a outward prying force on the sidepieces 28--which could break the tree 22.
As depicted in the drawing figures, the tree 22 of a typical Western saddle (all forty pounds of it) is substantial in size and thickness. Accordingly, it would be unusual for the Western tree 22 to break in normal usage. Such is not the case with the tree 22 of an English saddle. For one thing, the tree 22 in the area of the pommel 16 is much thinner. Thus, the English tree may split lengthwise from the prying effect of a thickness mis-match as described above; or, simply from fatigue from constant flexing due to the same prying effect. A more serious and common problem is depicted in FIGS. 11-14. Under certain riding conditions where it is desired to place the center of gravity of the rider as far forward as possible, it is common to mount the saddle 10 high up on the withers 18 as depicted in FIG. 11. In that position, however, the saddle 10 no longer has a level seat with a rising cantel 26; rather, the saddle 10 tends to slope "downhill" in a backwards direction. To compensate for this, the rider may employ a sponge rubber shim 34 as depicted in FIGS. 12 and 13. Placing the shim 34 under the saddle 10 produces the esthetic results of FIG. 14. It also results in an undue number of broken saddle trees for the following reason. The portion of the tree 22 under the pommel 16 is supported by the back 12 of the horse 14 while the portion of the tree 22 under the cantel 26 is virtually unsupported due to the compressibility of the sponge rubber of the shim 34. At the walk, the rider has no apparent problems; however, when going over a jump, the downward forces on the cantel portion of the tree 22 (from the rider's derriere or through the stirrup leathers when posting) compress the sponge rubber of the shim 34 and snap the tree 22 like breaking a pencil between the fingers.
It should be noted in passing that the foregoing problems are particular important in endurance riding where any soreing of the horse during the long ride can result in the elimination of the rider from that particular competition. Despite problems of equipment, the replacement of a rider's saddle is not always (or even often) a viable alternative.
Wherefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a saddle pad for use with saddles of any kind which will spread the forces of the saddle tree over a maximum area.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a saddle pad for use with saddles of any kind which will help if fitting the saddle to the shape of the horse.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a saddle pad for use with endurance saddles which will eliminate soreing problems and bypass the requirement to buy a new saddle.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a saddle pad for use with endurance saddles which can be modified to properly fit an old saddle to a new horse.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a saddle pad for use with English saddles which will properly support the saddle in a proper riding position when the saddle is mounted high on the withers of the horse.
Other objects and benefits of this invention will become apparent from the detailed description which follows hereinafter when taken in conjunction with the drawing figures which accompany it.